Texas will have you believe that it didn’t blow up the Big 12, and that the perpetually average ACC is just as good as the Big 12—which is merely second only to the SEC in on-field performance since its inaugural season in 1996.

Just like Texas will have you believe that everyone in the Big 12 knew of the inner workings of the Longhorn Network, so why in the world is everyone so upset about it now?

Meanwhile, that’s Texas A&M applying for membership to the SEC. That’s Oklahoma, ironing out the details of moving west to join the Pac-12—a move that makes absolutely no geographical sense until you take into consideration the distance it puts between the Sooners and Longhorns.

That’s OU coach Bob Stoops stating, matter-of-factly, that losing the classic Texas-Oklahoma rivalry won’t be such a bad thing. And that’s Texas A&M officials intimating that losing the Texas rivalry may just be the price of joining the best conference in college football.

Are we all beginning to get a clear picture of life in the Big 12 over the last two decades? Are we beginning to understand why college football is days or weeks away from Armageddon?

It was Osborne who was the lone public voice of displeasure back in the 1990s, when the Big Eight absorbed teams from the troubled Southwest Conference during the evolution of the Big 12—yet all the league power moved south. Even the league offices were moved from Kansas City to Dallas.

“We were, in essence, saving them,” Osborne told me earlier this summer. “That certainly was a thorn of sorts that never really went away.”

And this is what the ACC wants?

It was hard enough to invite Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College in the early 2000s, with some longtime basketball coaches and administrators having to be dragged into the 21st Century. There still are hard feelings about the last ACC expansion, especially considering the limited impact it had on the ACC’s football standing—and the zero impact it had on the league’s storied basketball history.

Now throw We’re Texas And You’re Not into that mix. Watch Texas make millions upon millions with its Longhorn Network, and eventually suck the very life out of the league.

For those who believe that Texas, Virginia Tech, Miami and Florida State could eventually develop into an SEC-type foursome, we give you this: Texas, Oklahoma, Texas A&M and Nebraska were there before you.

Now one team is playing in the Big Ten, one is headed for the SEC, and one has its sights on the Pac-12.